Hi, I had a friend come over today with his spring compressor but it's the claw type and can hardly fit through the top shock opening, too difficult to work with. He suggested making one with 1/2" threaded bar and a couple of plates.

Yeah, external claw type will never get the job done on the springs, if the Bulletbird is anything like the 65 I did anyway.

You need the internal coil spring style tool. I went a did the free tool rental deal from Autozone and it made quick work of it for me.

Hi, I had a friend come over today with his spring compressor but it's the claw type and can hardly fit through the top shock opening, too difficult to work with. He suggested making one with 1/2" threaded bar and a couple of plates.

Not to be a curmudgeon here but let me remind you of my earlier post:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yadkin

The front springs on these are a bear and will destroy many spring compressors and possibly kill you while they are at it. Buy an OTC 7045B coil spring compressor, or similar.

I have to say, I've done alot of cars over the years and the springs in the 65 are without a doubt the longest I have ever seen in an uncompressed state.

Obviously. You must have a good store manager there who has multiple compressors for different types of cars. The one I use for my 2005 Mustang would never work on my 1964 TBird.

When I took my new '64 springs to the shop to install them the mechanics were in disbelief. The compressors that they had were useless for this application. So we borrowed one from the local O's, and ruined it. So I did some research, found the OTC tool online and ordered it. A dangerous, difficult job then became surprisingly easy. You know what they say about the right tool...

Thanks guys for your suggestions, I live in Ontario Canada and a local parts stow can order the OTC 7045B but it's $350 cananadian but there is an auto zone in Ogdensburg NY about 45min away,I will check to see if they would loan that compressor.
Will let you know how it turns out.

Sorry for the slow reply but I did all the suspension work. I found the correct spring compressor an old mechanic friend of mine has had it for 40 yrs, lucky me, and I cut off 1 1/4 coil off and that dropped the front end about 2" which brought the front fender just about even with the tire. Then I installed some lowering blocks for the rear springs and now the cars altitude is where I want it. Thanks again for all the input.

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